I am really excited to announce that I will be giving a talk on Friday, as a part of the Creative Mornings lecture series. Creative Mornings, if you don't know, is a giant international organization that connects creatives and creative minded people, through monthly talks centered around a set theme.

So, get up early, come on out to the Commons in downtown Minneapolis, enjoy some free coffee, and listen to me talk about my career, and creative commitment!

I couldn’t find any pictures of Bren/Alias that i took, they’re probably all trapped on some broken hard drive somewhere? So, I did my own rework on photos Matty took on the Alias & Tarsier tour back in 2006. That was Bren’s last tour, and i am pretty sure he lost money on it, because he let me open up for them. I am almost 100% certain he KNEW he was going to lose money on it IF he brought us out, and asked us to join them anyway. I think, he saw how hungry we were, and he gave us that chance...at his own expense. That was just the kind of guy Bren was.

I couldn’t find any photos i took on that tour, but i did find this one video of me, Brock, and Bren trying to get the vibrating bed to work at the Thunderbird Motel in Missoula, MT...yes, the motel from “Secrets On Our Lips”. I put this crappy video up, because of Bren’s deadpan delivery of “you need to go ask for your fuckin’ money back”. Kills me every time. Bren was as funny as he was giving. I wish i had audio of him doing his “leather hats & Hennessy” voice, or his “DUDE! TURN IT DOWN!” impression of Brock. Those still make us laugh so hard, that we do impressions of his impression...over a decade later.

Bren became my friend, but before that, he was basically a hero. Beyond what he and the entire Anticon crew did to enable people like me to want to push boundaries in rap, I remember listening to his music specifically and thinking, “god, if i could only get beats like THAT!” The way he layered his drums, mixing breaks with drum machines, his understanding of melody, his contrasting live instruments with samples and synths, making beautiful music that KNOCKED! There is so much i learned from obsessing over his work, from Deep Puddle, all the way into his instrumental stuff, straight on to his last album. You can’t listen to people like Tycho, Washed Out, etc, without understanding that Bren did a lot of that, over a decade before them. Listen to the album “Muted” (from 2003), and tell me i’m wrong. I have literally listened to everything he has ever released, not just because he is the homie, but because first and foremost, I am a fan. When he put out “Unseen Sights” with Markus Acher (from The Notwist), i must have listened to that song for hours and hours on end...like I was trying to absorb it’s power, perhaps? “Well Water Black” still may be one of my favorite songs that Yoni has ever been involved with. It is such an incredible collaboration between the two of them. So when Bren sent me the beat that would later become “Dimitri Mendeleev”, it felt truly unbelievable. I was amazed that my career had brought me to this point, where i could just text Alias, ask him for a beat, and he would give me one. I was in Berlin, and woke up in the middle of the night to see the email from him on my phone. I shot out of bed, scrambled to find headphones, and stayed up till dawn, in the dirty living room of Brunnenstraße, playing the beat over and over till the song was done. A lot of songs, feel wobbly once they’re written, like one false move between the writing and recording, could send them toppling, like Bambi, trying to walk on the ice. That one, i knew was strong, the second i finished it. Writing it felt magical, like maybe i HAD absorbed some of his powers?

I was planning on hitting him up for music for my next record, because i loved the direction he went on his last solo album, “Pitch Black Prism”. So, it goes.

Right now, a lot of people are telling these stories, thinking these thoughts, running over these memories, because Bren really was that guy. Funny as hell, supportive beyond belief, relentlessly giving, and true as they come. A giant man, full of giant love. So many of our favorite musicians have gotten so much from Bren; from beats, to laughs, to beers, to an opening slot on a real tour playing real clubs for the first time; and all of that pales in comparison to what his friends and family got from him. In the last 10 years, his focus was on them, still making music, but his life was about making a life, making a family, and being with his wife Jenn, back home in Maine. All of which, I know, presented it’s own fresh challenges, and victories, but every time i made my way up there, and got to see him, he looked happy. Always ready with a giant hug, gray now streaking his beard, kids were the conversation, and he was every bit the proud and funny father. Some musicians, when they leave the road, it feels a bit like defeat, like a cowboy hanging up the spurs, with Bren, it felt like success.

This is such a loss.

For as much as Bren meant to me, for as lucky as i feel, to have counted him as a friend, I barely saw him anymore. Lives diverge over time, I come through Maine less than i used to, we mostly spoke on social media, through jokes. So, I can’t imagine, can’t even conceive what the loss must be like for people who got to see him all the time. What pain must be felt right now, by those that got to share a life Bren. His close friends, his family, his wife, and his kids. I am really having a hard time finding the words to describe how much he brought to the world, i can’t find something big enough, or positive enough, there are no words filled with enough love to describe Bren. Maybe in time, i will find those words, but for now, all i can picture, all i can think of, is the size of the hole that is left in the universe now that he is gone.

Harpoon Larry (or as he is more commonly known: Brock Cummings), has been by my side since day one. At first as my roommate, then as my tour mate, then as my manager, and all the while, as my best friend. If you haven't met Brock directly, than you have, at the very least bought merch from him at a show. For over 15 years, Brock has been rolling by my side, and without a doubt, the biggest supporter and advocate of me, and my work. It is not hyperbole when i say, that i would NOT have a career, tours, albums, fans, ANYTHING...if it were not for Brock. He was the first person to push me to pursue music as more than a hobby, and the dude has been there every step of the way to pick me up when i fall, help me build on my dream, and have my back through everything.

Without "Harpoon Larry"...there is no "Astronautalis"

And, after years of supporting me and my work, Brock is taking the first big step in pursing his own dream...to be a professional Disc Golfer. For as long as i have known Brock, he has played disc golf. He was the first person to introduce me to the sport back in 2000 (i think?). We would walk B.B. Owen Park in Dallas, smoking a joint, and carrying a 12 pack of Tecate, while we got faded, and hucked discs in the Texas heat. Since then, i have watched what started out like a walking kegger, slowly evolve into a passion, and eventually a full fledged obsession for Brock.

Long gone are the days of drinking and tossing discs in the rough, now i see Brock stretching daily, working on form, learning about flight paths, and spending every minute of the time he has off from supporting me, out on the disc golf course, honing his skills. So this year, as a 40th birthday present to himself, after years of competing quite successfully as an amateur, Brock has decided to go pro. While we both take a much needed break from the road, i'll be working on music, and he'll traveling to as many tournaments as possible, and hopefully competing in this year's European Open in Finland. To raise money for this dream, Brock has launched a line of "Harpoon Larry Signature Discs" and T-shirts, featuring an amazing design by our dear friend Andrew McAlpine!

If you play disc golf, you will see that these discs are the real damn deal, pressed up in a variety of great molds from Discmania and Innova, in amazing color ways. If you don't play disc golf, you should give it a try, it is a really wonderful sport, with courses all around, and...i mean...look at how awesome these look!

Aside from all of that, it doesn't matter if you are a avid disc golfer, or this is your first time hearing about the sport, if you love my music, just remember, it would literally not exist if it were not for everything Brock has done for me. And after years and years of his working tirelessly to help me pursue my dream, i think it is high time will all show him some love, and help Harpoon Larry out, in pursuit of his own.

-All discs are $25, shipped, in a box, with a free Innova mini included as well!-All shirts are $20 (plus S&H) and are printed on 100% cotton, with eco-friendly water based inks.-All proceeds go to helping out the hardest working man in showbiz, pursue his wildest dreams.

CLICK ON STORE OR RIGHT ABOVE THIS POST TO COP THEM THANGS AND HELP A MAN LIVE THE DREAM!

At midnight last night, the album came out at, and debuted at #8 on itunes hip hop, and #57 on itunes over all. By the time i woke up in the morning, we had passed damn near everyone, on the hip hop charts and a ton of big names on the main charts, and now we are holding steady at #3 on Hip Hop and #28 on itunes all over all!

Last i checked, we were at #23 for hip hop in the UK, #11 for hip hop in Russia, and #1 for hip hop and #3 over all in the Czech Republic!

I am so proud of how this has climbed in america, and even more proud to see how it has climbed in other countries.

This record was written all over the world, about my adventures all over of the world, and it really means a lot to me, to see people supporting my work, all over the world.

It is a nerve wracking thing at times, to be an artist for a living, and i can't explain to you the kind of affirmation i get from seeing so many people riding for me.

Thank you for all you do for me, for me letting me get to do this for a living, and for being the beautiful and kind people you are.

After the way you guys came through on that MTV voting a few weeks ago, (80,000-90,000 VOTES?!) it got me to thinking.

I thought about when my last album came out, and debuted at #19 on iTunes hip hop and I watched all day, as it climb up the charts to #9...all because of y'all. People wrote me, saying they bought my album just to see it go up the charts, people who never buy stuff from itunes, and people who bought my album MULTIPLE TIMES...just because they wanted to see me win.

I thought about so many conversations i have had with you guys, online, at the merch booth, in the street, and even in the middle of the GAT DAMN dance floor at 5AM, during the Prince memorial dance party at first ave last week! Having total strangers come up to me, and tell me, what a song of mine, or an album of mine means to them. Or how it helped them get through a rough patch, or how a couple fell in love to my song, or met at my show, or walked down the aisle to "oceanwalk"...it means the world to me.

You guys have given me SO MUCH over these years, rode SO HARD for me, and supported me, my music, my friends, given me a platform to stand on, and always taken the time to listen to my records, as i bounced through genres, and styles, and grown into the artist i am today.

After i did some thinking, i got talking with my labels, and my team, and we all agreed, that we were tired of waiting, and tired of making you guys wait, and you guys have been so good to me, that we thought, "Fuck it! Let's give it to 'em early!"

So, as a small token of our appreciation for everything you have done, from now, until its release on May 13th, we are going to make my new album available to stream for free, from my soundclound.

This album is a big step for me, as an artist, and a human, and honestly, i think it is the best thing i have ever made. And it would have never have been possible for me to make this record, to live this life, to see the things i have seen, to tell these stories...if it wasn't for y'all.

So thanks, for the support, for showing me your world, for sweating, and for singing your god damned lungs out at so so so many shows. This is going to be an exciting year, an exciting release, and this is just the beginning.